Farmers in Mandya resorted to a flash protest and staged a demonstration in the town and other parts of the district on September 21 soon after the Supreme Court refused to intervene in the order of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) directing Karnataka to release 5,000 cusecs of water per day to Tamil Nadu till September 27.
The farmers assembled at Sanjay Circle in Mandya, which is the Cauvery heart land, to register their protest. Similar protests took place in Pandavpura and other parts of the district. A group of farmers from the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) staged a protest in Srirangapatana. Chamarajanagar, T. Narsipur and other towns in the rural hinterland also witnessed protests by farmers.
Responding to the development, the Karnataka Sugarcane Cultivators’ Association urged the government not to comply with the CWMA’s directive to release water at the rate of 5,000 cusecs per day to Tamil Nadu.
